


Burning Rubber

by starkanium



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Car Accident, Emotional Baggage, First Dates, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-08 01:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1920735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkanium/pseuds/starkanium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony hates it when other people drive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burning Rubber

**Author's Note:**

> So I noticed in the movies that Tony is always the one driving his cars even though he has a driver. The one exception is after Afghanistan and I can see why he wouldn't drive then. This is pretty much my reasoning for Tony always driving himself.

His vision swam, making the broken glass raining down around him look beautiful, the shards glimmering in the sunlight. He could hear horns blaring, but he couldn’t identify exactly what was making so much noise or why. The sudden scent of burning rubber assaulted him and he crinkled his nose in distaste.

“Mommy?” Tony Stark called. “Mommy, where am I?”

After a few seconds of waiting for a response and receiving none, Tony started to wriggle from the awkward position he was in. It took him a few moments to realize that he was hanging upside down and another minute to realize that it was because he was buckled into the back seat of his father’s Mercedes. And it was upside down.

“Mom!” Tony cried out when he saw what a horrible predicament he was in. 

When there was once again no reply, Tony reached for his seatbelt and clicked the button to release him. He fell about a foot to the ground, landing on splintered pieces of glass. It was enough to snap him fully back into reality, the world becoming clear once again. 

Tony concluded that his entire body was in pain and he started crying for lack of any better ideas. He was trapped in his car and he hurt and he couldn’t see his mom. 

He rolled over from his position on his back and lifted his head up to look past the front seats where his mom and dad should’ve been. Howard was no where to be seen but Maria was still hanging from her seat belt. Her eyes were closed and her chest was shaking with hitched movements.

“Mommy?” Tony murmured. 

Again, no response. 

Tony squirmed his way toward his mom and reached a swollen hand to touch her shoulder that settled just above his head.

“Please wake up,” he whispered, tears streaming down his face.

Her chest shuddered one more time before it ceased to move.

That’s when Tony started to cry in earnest. Gulping sobs wracked his tiny body and pinkish tears dripped from his face.

“Please wake up…”

 

Tony awoke to lights flashing in front of his eyes. It was too bright and it hurt his eyes.

“Where’s my mommy?” Tony asked anyone who would listen.

“Hi, sweetheart. You’re just going to feel a little pinch and then you can go to sleep, okay?” a woman with blonde hair and green eyes told him.

Tony nodded his head wearily at her. Sure enough, he felt a pinch in the crook of his elbow and his eyes started to droop.

 

The next time Tony woke up, he was lying in a bed that had scratchy blankets and a lumpy mattress. It definitely wasn’t his own bed.

“Hi Tony. How are you feeling?” a kind voice asked him.

Tony rolled his head to the right and considered the question. He supposed he felt okay, but his arm and head were throbbing in time with his heart.

“Where’s my mom?” he settled for instead.

“How about I go and get your dad? He can talk to you about your mom.”

Tony nodded before his eyes slipped closed. The next thing he knew, his father was pulling a chair up next to his bed.

“Hey Tones,” his dad greeted. “You know we were in a car crash, right?”

At Tony’s affirmative nod, Howard continued.

“And you know your mother was with us?” Another nod. 

“She didn’t make it out. I’m sorry, Tony, but your mom’s gone.”

 

“Sir, Miss Potts is calling. Would you like me to put her through?” Jarvis asked through the lab speakers.

“Go ahead, J.”

“Tony Stark! Where are you right now?” Pepper’s enraged voice screamed.

“Uh,” Tony started dumbly, “Where do you think I am?”

“I was hoping you’d say at the R&D meeting, but I think it’s safe to assume that’s not the case.”

“You’ve always been so good at assuming, haven’t you, Pep?”

“This was important, Tony. R&D said they’d be willing to wait for another half hour for you, but no longer. Can you please do this for me, just this one time?”

“Fine. Yes. I can. I’ll be there in ten.”

“Thank you. Will that be all, Mister Stark?”

“That’ll be all, Miss Potts,” Tony concluded before ending the call. 

Tony called up Happy on the way out to make sure there was a car waiting for him.

“Would you like me to drive, Boss?” Happy asked as Tony approached the car.

“Nope. I’m good from here. Thanks, Hap,” Tony said before sliding into the driver’s seat.

“You got it,” Happy called as the car pulled from the drive.

 

He doesn’t remember being any more tired than he was at that moment but he refused to be rolled down the ramp in a wheelchair. Rhodey reached out a hand and helped Tony to his feet, supporting him as he made his way toward Pepper and Happy. 

“Watch your step,” Rhodey muttered as they approached a large step.

When they got to the bottom of the ramp of the plane, two soldiers strode over with a stretcher between them.

“Oh, are you kidding me with this?” Tony groaned, shooing the thing away with his good arm. “Get it out of here.”

Tony took a few more painful steps to get to Pepper. He studied her face, realizing suddenly how beautiful she really was. 

“Your eyes are red. You’ve been crying. Tears for your long lost boss?” he sniped.

Pepper took this in stride, “Tears of joy. I hate job hunting.”

“Yeah, well, vacation’s over,” he said dismissively before heading toward the standardized black car parked a few yards away.

Without even thinking about it, Tony slipped into the back of the car, allowing Happy to take the wheel.

“Where to, sir?” Happy asked.

“To the hospital please-” Pepper started.

And although a hospital sounded like a fantastic idea, where he could get painkillers and maybe some peaceful sleep, Tony had to decline.

“No.”

“No? Tony, you have to go to the hospital.”

“No, there’s nothing I have to do. I was just in captivity for three months. There are things that I want to do, such as getting an American cheeseburger. And the other-”

“That’s enough of that-”

“Is not what you think. I want to call for a press conference now.”

And wasn’t that one of the greatest ideas he’d ever had? Really, what he wanted to do was curl up with a thousand cheeseburgers and go to sleep in an authentic bed. And maybe drink some water that didn’t have sand floating around in it.

“Call for a press conference?”

“Yeah. Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first.”

Happy did as ordered, driving to the nearest burger joint as Tony drifted off to sleep, head pillowed on the window.

When Tony woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he was in the back of a moving car. And he wasn’t driving.

His first reaction was panic. His chest heaved up and down and his breath wheezed inside of his lungs. His eyes shot around the car in panicked bursts, seeing nothing but sprinkling glass and leather.

“-Y! Tony, look at me! You need to calm down. Breathe in. And out.”

Tony listened to the voice, taking a long time to register the fact that it belonged to Pepper. 

He glanced out of the window, noting that the car slowed to a stop on the shoulder of the road.

“Boss, are you okay?” Happy questioned from the front seat.

“Yeah. Yeah, ‘m fine. Just let me drive.”

“Drive? Do you really think you’re fit to drive?”

“I know I’m fit to drive,” he barked before exiting the car and switching seats with Happy.

He drove the rest of the way to the burger place, gripping the wheel hard to stop his hands from shaking.

 

“Let me take you on a date tonight,” Steve said spontaneously. 

At first, Tony didn’t react. He just kept scrolling through his blueprints on the tablet, assuming Steve was talking to someone on the phone and feeling a sudden pang of jealousy.

“Did you hear me, Tony?”

“Huh?” Tony asked, purely confused.

There was no way that Steve was talking to him, right? There was no way that Captain America, the symbol of all things good and holy, would want to date him, Tony Stark. 

“I said, ‘let me take you on a date tonight,’” he repeated.

And, shit, Tony could feel his heart flutter, finally realizing that Steve was talking to him. He knew his eyes widened in surprise, so he forced himself to relax. 

Besides, he still couldn’t believe that this was happening and there was a fairly good chance that Steve was just messing with him. Tony hoped that wasn’t the case.

“You want to take me on a date?” Tony muttered, still trying to wrap his head around this situation.

“Would I have asked if I didn’t want to?” 

“Fair enough. Meet me in the lobby at eight.”

Tony stood and left the communal living room before Steve could catch him blushing.

As expected, Steve was waiting in the lobby by the time Tony arrived. Steve was always perfectly punctual and often was where he needed to be ahead of time. Tony couldn’t have been any more different.

“Hey, are you ready to go?” Steve questioned as soon as he saw Tony. 

Tony smiled and nodded, following Steve out the front door.

“You look very dapper in your suit,” Tony informed Steve as they advanced toward the driveway.

That caused a pink blush to creep up Steve’s neck and dominate his cheeks.

“Thanks. So do you,” he mumbled, ducking his head.

When they reached the car, Steve plucked the keys from his breast pocket and unlocked the door.

“Hey, Steve, do you mind if I drive?” Tony wondered aloud.

“Not to be rude or anything, but I do. I wanted it to be a surprise where we go and if you drive, it won’t be much of a surprise. I don’t have anything against your driving, really. I just wanted this to be special,” he explained.

“Come on, please? You can just tell me when to turn and I can turn. It’ll be just as much of a surprise either way.”

“But isn’t it just polite for the one that asked to drive? I don’t want to be rude or anything.”

“Oh, no. It wouldn’t be rude at all because I’m offering. Honest.”

“Look, Tony, I think it would just be better if I drove, okay? You can drive next time, I promise.”

“Jesus, just let me drive, Steve!” Tony snapped abruptly. 

Steve looked shocked for a few seconds before his face morphed into anger.

“Why do you have to make everything so difficult? I’m trying to do one nice thing for you and you have to go and throw it back in my face just because you refuse to let me drive! It’s not even that big of a deal. Maybe you are just a spoiled brat like everyone claims you are. I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, but obviously this was a bad idea,” he ranted, sighing angrily with pure disgust evident in his eyes. He turned on his heel and started to stalk back to the tower.

“Wait, please,” Tony called out weakly. “I really like you, Steve, and I don’t want to ruin this. You can drive. Just forget I said anything.” 

Steve halted when Tony stopped speaking, but he didn’t turn around.

“Please,” he whispered shakily, his eyes beginning to fill with tears.

The thought that Tony may have ruined the one good thing in his life because of his stupid need to drive made his knees feel weak. Steve was going to walk out on him, just like all the others, and it was no one’s fault but his own.

“I need you to tell me why you feel the need to drive so badly,” Steve ordered, still refusing to turn around.

Tony opened his mouth to say something, but he was left speechless. 

Steve shook his head in utter distaste before stomping away.

“It’s because my father crashed our car when he was drunk. I was five and I watched my mother die. I just don’t trust people to drive me anywhere. I know it’s an irrational fear, but I can’t get over it.”

That effectively stopped Steve in his tracks.

“I- I’m sorry, Tony. I didn’t know,” uttered Steve.

“It’s okay. Do you think we can just go now?”

Steve looked like he was prepared to say something but thought otherwise.

“Yeah. Let’s go, we’ll be late for our reservations.”


End file.
